Connie ’s
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(group member since Nov 11, 2013)
Connie ’s
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from the Reading with Style group.
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15.6 A Counting GameThe Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald
+15 task (6 word title)
Season Total: 45
Karin wrote: "Connie wrote: "I'm thinking of reading Ordinary Wolves by Seth Kantner. This is a fictional book partly based on his childhood in northern Alaska where he interacted wi..."I'll look around some more since the village seems to be near a river that is at 65-66 degrees. It shouldn't be a problem finding another book.
I'm thinking of reading Ordinary Wolves by Seth Kantner. This is a fictional book partly based on his childhood in northern Alaska where he interacted with the native people. I think this should be far enough north unless someone knows otherwise. And there's a combo for young men 20.6!
Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "Post 15 Connie wrote: "20.3 HistoricalSalt Houses by Hala Alyan
Set in multiple countries
+20 task
+ 5 combo 10.2
Task total: 25
Season total: 25"
This is Aly..."
Thanks, Elizabeth. Could I please change it to:
Task 20.10 Debut
Salt Houses by Hala Alyan
+20 task
+10 combo 20.3, 10.2
Task total: 30
Season total: 30
20.3 HistoricalSalt Houses by Hala Alyan
Set in multiple countries
+20 task
+ 5 combo 10.2
Task total: 25
Season total: 25
Welcome back, Louise. I always set my reading goals low so I'm pleasantly surprised when I surpass them. Last March I didn't join the team event because my daughter had a skiing accident and had knee surgery, and I wanted the time to make meals to send to her family. The reading is fun, but we shouldn't feel bad if something more important comes up. Have a great summer!
Thank you to the mods for a wonderful spring challenge. The summer challenge is looking great too!
10.5 CircusMade in the U.S.A. by Billie Letts
"Made in the USA" is a story of how two children who need a family find a home in an unlikely place. Fifteen-year-old Lutie and eleven-year-old Fate live in South Dakota with their father's ex-girlfriend, Floy. Their mother had died when they were young, and their alcoholic father had skipped town, heading for Las Vegas. Floy has a heart attack and dies, leaving the kids without a family. They don't want to be sent into the state foster care system, so they head for Vegas in Floy's old car to look for their father with underage Lutie behind the wheel.
There are predators on the lookout for homeless kids, and Lutie makes some bad decisions. A man with a good heart helps them, and brings them to stay with his large extended family. Lutie and Fate see that home is the place where you are loved.
I've read newspaper reports about kids that have been homeless or living in cars, and Lutie's and Fate's experiences seem very real. The story drew me in more than I expected, although the ending seemed almost too wonderful to be believable.
+10 task (circus listed 5X)
+ 5 combo 10.2
+10 review
Task total: 25
RWS Finish: 100
Grand total: 1095
20.10 HesperusThe Venice Train by Georges Simenon
Justin Calmar meets a man on the train running from Venice to Paris. The stranger asks Justin to do him a favor since he has to meet a plane. A key....a briefcase full of cash....a dead body...anxiety takes over his life. Although Justin is an innocent man, he has to live his life like a criminal with something to hide. He makes up stories, he drinks to relieve the stress, he feels like everyone is watching his every move. His family and coworkers wonder if he's ill, or exhausted, or having an affair. I loved this psychological mystery, and will be looking for another book by this prolific author.
+20 task
+10 combo 10.2, 10.6
+10 review
Task total: 40
Grand total: 970
20.9 National Doctor's DayThe Duel by Anton Chekhov
"The Duel" is a morality tale about how a person's life can be turned around. Lawvsky and Nadyezhda, his mistress who is married to another man, have moved together to the hot Caucasus. Laevsky is lazy, barely does his government job, and spends his time gambling and drinking. He has grown tired of Nadyezhda and is thinking of leaving her. She is bored, has run up debts, and spends her time flirting with other men.
Three men eat dinner together every day--the physician Sanoylenko, the deacon, and the biologist Von Koren. The cold-blooded Von Koren believes in social Darwinism and thinks that lazy, immoral people like Laevsky don't deserve to live. One day, arguments lead to Von Koren challenging Laevsky to a duel.
The story is slow moving, but Chekhov has created some memorable characters who are all flawed in some way. The novella is about living, and life-changing events. "In search of the truth, people make two steps forward and one step back. Sufferings, mistakes, and the tedium of life throw them back, but the thirst for truth and a stubborn will drive them on and on."
+20 task
+10 combo 20.10, 10.2
+10 Non-Western (Russian)
+10 review
Task total: 50
Grand total: 930
This is a fun task. I found two on my list of books for the summer.Small Great Things (things)
A Spool of Blue Thread (thread)
20.3 EvictedBlink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell engagingly writes about how decisions made in a blink--snap judgments--can be very good. A series of entertaining anecdotes and psychological studies show that first impressions can be good in some cases, especially in areas where people have experience. He also writes about experts who analyze facial expressions, and how autistic people have trouble making certain types of judgment calls.
But then he goes on to show how our unconscious mind can also be very prejudiced. Tall men are more likely to become CEOs than short men. Using Warren Harding as an example, he shows that people may vote for a political candidate because they look presidential. Women are less likely to be offered positions in some orchestras unless the auditions are held with the competitors behind a screen, so they are just evaluated on their playing ability. He also includes stories about police officers making snap judgments, and the judicial system handing out longer sentences to minorities.
There were some examples that supported decisions made quickly by the subconscious level, and other examples that showed certain decisions were better when we slowed down and consciously gave things a little more thought. Experience played a big part in having good judgment making quick decisions. Gladwell does not get into how the brain works in making decisions. The book is interesting and entertaining, but it raises as many questions as it answers.
+20 task (12 X on list)
+ 5 combo 10.3
+10 review
Task total: 35
Grand total: 880
10.2 3,4, or 5My Life with Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues
"My Life With Bob" is a delightful memoir by Pamela Paul, the editor of the New York Times Book Review. BOB is not a person, but is her "Book of Books", a journal listing every book she has read since age 17. When she looks back on her list of books, the entries transport her to another time when she was reading a particular book.
Her memoir is sometimes humorous, often nostalgic, and occasionally tells of times that were frightening or hurtful. Each chapter is titled with an important book that she read at that time in her life. For example, "Swimming to Cambodia" is the book chosen when she lived and traveled in Asia for two years after college. "The Wisdom of the Body" was for the chapter about her first publishing job when she was surprised by an assignment to work on the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. "A Wrinkle in Time" titles the chapter about reading with her three children and working as an editor for the review of children's books.
The author is kept very busy now caring for her family, working as a book review editor, and writing her own books. It's hard for her to carve out a bit of treasured time for reading. Reading a page-turner now is "a masochistic thrumming of simultaneous desire and deprivation involving late nights and little sleep, ignored and resentful children, furtive retreats into the bathroom to secretly flip the pages." Any book lover will understand when she writes, "Even if we don't keep a physical Book of Books, we all hold our books somewhere inside us and live by them. They become our stories."
+10 task
+10 review
Task total: 20
Grand total: 845
Valerie wrote: "Connie wrote: "Valerie wrote: "My original sub-challenge plan only used books I own, partially to get a small handle on the overflowing real life TBR shelves and partially to avoid the library hold..."Temple Grandin is definitely someone to admire, Valerie.
Valerie wrote: "My original sub-challenge plan only used books I own, partially to get a small handle on the overflowing real life TBR shelves and partially to avoid the library holds problem. I don't have to make..."Valerie, my youngest daughter (who has a real soft spot for animals) read Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals, and enjoyed it.
Here's a few more 9 word titles with female authors:Dinner with Edward: A Story of an Unexpected Friendship by Isabel Vincent
The Spark of Life: Electricity in the Human Body by Frances Ashcroft
10.2 3,4,5The History of Japan by Louis Pérez
"The History of Japan" is aimed at students and the general public interested in a concise history of Japan. The beginning of the book discusses the geography of the island nation which has to import over 85% of its total energy from abroad, as well as large quantities of iron ore, many minerals, and many agricultural goods. (In modern times, Japan has become known for exporting its excellent industrial and technical products, and automobiles.) The land is beautiful--but mountainous, volcanic, and unstable with frequent earthquakes. Much of it is too steep for farming or housing so Japan has a very high density population on its usable land. Its treacherous oceans kept the Japanese isolated from other Asians for much of its history. It was a great way to start the book since there were multiple times that Japan's geography had a large impact on its history.
The book covers Japanese history from prehistoric times up until 1997 with more detail in the Meiji Era and later. There is also a newer edition available, but I was reading a library book. The book includes a timeline of historical events and an excellent glossary of Japanese terms that I used frequently. The only illustrations were three maps. I especially appreciated that the author included quite a bit of information about women's issues, religion, and culture in addition to politics and trade. It's an interesting basic book for the general reader. There are plenty of longer books available if someone wants to do more in-depth reading about Japan.
+10 task
+10 review
Task total: 20
Grand total: 825
10.9 A Wrinkle in TimeThe House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier
Professor Magnus Lane wants his friend, Dick Young, to try a time-travel drug while he spends his summer at Lane's historic Cornwall home. The hallucinogenic drug takes Dick on a "trip" to 14th Century Cornwall where he observes the upper class feuding, committing crimes, brewing sinister potions, and indulging in clandestine romances. Dick finds the drug very addictive, partly because 14th Century life is so much more exciting than his real life. Dick's marriage is rocky, he has recently resigned from his London job, and feels pressured by his wife to take a job in her brother's American company.
Dick has no control over his location when he returns from his "trips" back into the 20th Century. The Cornwall landscape includes roads, railroads, cliffs, and the sea so each "trip" is very dangerous. Dick experiences increasing confusion, exhaustion, numbness, and nausea with each "trip". The professor doesn't know what effect the drug has on the brain. Dick is acting so strange that his wife wonders if he is seeing another woman.
After the initial introduction to a large group of 14th Century characters that drags a bit, the book builds in suspense especially in the 20th Century story. There is a good sense of place, and the author has added some Gothic touches to the atmosphere. While this is not my favorite Daphne du Maurier tale, it's still very imaginative and well worth reading.
+10 task
+10 combo 10.2, 10.3
+10 review
Task total: 30
Grand total: 800
Thanks for the advice about Zola, Elizabeth. I keep "meeting" Zola since my library book groups and a group at an art museum often read historical fiction about the Impressionists. Zola hung out with the artists in Paris. But I've never read any of his novels. I've already read lots of books set in Paris and Provence so I'm looking for other locations.
